Man Faces Charges For Shooting His Own Dog
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―A Baltimore dog owner is facing animal abuse charges after police say he killed his own pit bull.
Derek Valcourt is tracking the gruesome allegations.
A Siberian husky was rescued from a backyard in the 2300 block of Arunah Avenue in west Baltimore. The dog's owner, 35-year-old Stanley Coleman, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty. Police say he shot his own pit bull in the back legs with a shotgun.
"You're not allowed to shoot your dog. That's an act of violence and it's a scary act of violence if that's what you would resort to," said Debra Rahl.
According to police reports, Coleman says his pit bull was trying to kill his Siberian husky. He told police he first threw boiling water at the dogs to break up the fight. When that didn't work, he hit them with a 2X4 and eventually grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun to end the dogfight.
Baltimore Animal Rescue workers say the husky's wounds are not consistent with a severe fight.
"I can't imagine shooting your dog and not trying to come up with a better solution to that," Rahl said.
Investigating officers also found another dead dog on the property they described as clearly emaciated. They say the yard was covered in feces and the dogs had no food or water, only a crate with a board on top as a shelter.
"Neighbors, when they see that, they need to speak up and try to help the animals that can't speak for themselves," Rahl said.
That husky will stay at the shelter until after the trial, when they hope to find him a good home. Meanwhile, they've ordered an autopsy on the emaciated dog to try to figure out why it died.
Coleman faces 15 criminal charges. He's scheduled to appear in court on December 7.
